#RESIST is the new #FABULOUS by Marie Cartier

As promised in my blog last month, in which I sent photos from the Long Beach 2017 Dyke March, here is a photo essay from this year’s Los Angeles #RESIST March. This was the first year in Los Angeles Pride history that the pride month was not celebrated in LA with a parade—but with a March.

This year we had an intersectional #RESIST MARCH for the first time in LA Pride history—since 1970 we Angelinos have paraded—but not this year. This year we marched.

In fact, I marched with Carolyn Weathers, the first lesbian on television, and one of the original marchers in the first LA pride parade in 1970. She is also featured on the cover of my book in front of a San Antonio gay bar in 1961.

It was so moving to march with her on the original route –since then the parade has moved to West Hollywood. This year we returned to the roots of gay resistance—by marching the 3.5-mile original route that started in Hollywood.

Take a look, and I’ll see you in the streets, at a meeting, in private conversations and also on social media –as we continue to #RESIST.

(All photos by the author unless otherwise noted in the captions.)

The author with Carolyn Weathers — photo by Kimberly Esslinger

Marie Cartier has a Ph.D. in Religion with an emphasis on Women and Religion from Claremont Graduate University. She is the author of the critically acclaimed book Baby, You Are My Religion: Women, Gay Bars, and Theology Before Stonewall (Routledge 2013). She is a senior lecturer in Gender and Women’s Studies and Queer Studies at California State University Northridge, and in Film Studies at Univ. of CA Irvine. She is also a published poet and playwright, accomplished performance artist, scholar, and social change activist. She holds a BA in Communications from the University of New Hampshire; an MA in English/Poetry from Colorado State University; an MFA in Theatre Arts (Playwriting) and an MFA in Film and TV (Screenwriting), both from UCLA; and an MFA in Visual Art (Painting/Sculpture) from Claremont Graduate University. She is co-chair of the Lesbian-Feminisms and Religion session of the national American Academy of Religion and co-chair at the regional level of the Queer Studies in Religion session, founder of the western region Queer Caucus, and a perma-blogger for Feminism and Religion. She is also a first degree black belt in karate, Shorin-Ryu Shi-Do-Kan Kobayashi style, and a 500 hour Yoga Alliance certified Hatha Yoga teacher.

I love your photos from the marches you attend! I went to the Pride Parade in Boston (a rally for equality was held the next day) and I was struck by how much this year was like the NYC Pride Parades I remember from the 1980s in the defiant but celebratory tone. There were a lot of signs reminding people that “The first Pride Parade was a riot.” I love that you always look like you are having such a good time!